Hudson, A Man of Few But Decisive Words!

Phil recently related this little exchange that took place when our grandkids were here a couple weeks ago: He showed Hudson how to crank down the leveling jacks on the fifth wheel while he was setting it up. He always looks for ways for Hudson to help out and have a part in the "guy stuff". Hudson was vigorously cranking down one of the jacks and Phil came around to observe. "You really look like you know what you're doing." he told him. Huddy, finishing the job, stood up and slapped his hands together like you would when finishing a job and replied, very matter-of-factly, "I DO know what I'm doing!" Later that evening he snuggled up next to his iGrandpa and said, "Grandpa, I'm really getting bigger, aren't I" "Yes, you sure are, Hudson." Hudson, once again matter-of-factly, "I KNEW I would!"

Aunt Mary at 93

We took Aunt Mary on her annual trip to El Porvenir. She loves the mountains and what an amazing lady she is! She never ceases to amaze us! She didn't hesitate when we said she WAS going on a ride on the 4-wheeler. She seemed to really enjoy it even though we discovered Phil had his big ole boots on top of her feet the whole time!

We also took are "guests" up to Johnson Mesa. This is seven miles above our campsite and an amazing view.

"Well I'll tell you one thing....."

That was one of Hannah's expressions while she was here.
Like "Well, I'll tell you one thing, Grandpa's T.V. watchin' kept me awake last night!"

We visited our friends, Hope and John Finney on their farm on the Pecos River in Fort Sumner. We rode took their 4 wheeler and ours and went down between the irrigated fields, across irrigation ditches and to a wonderful beach on the river. The river was perfect for kids to play in. It was only about a foot deep all the way across and moved very slowly. The kids had a great time. Josh kept busy collecting sea shells and dunking the top of his head in the water. We feasted on a nutricious meal of barbequed hotdogs and chips for supper.


We parked our fifth wheel next to the Finney's new house and in the morning went for a ride on the four wheelers.

Well, I'll tell you one thing....it was really fun!

Meanwhile, back at the farm....

Mr. Pearce's farm included a mare named "Hannah" with a beautiful little colt. I think this was a highlight on their visit.

"Matter of Fact, this IS my first rodeo!"

I had the delight of taking three of my little cowpokes to their FIRST rodeo AND Tombstone race! My Hannah NEVER ceases to amaze me. I've never seen a child with such a willingness to try just anything. She ran in the tombstone race which in the child's division was the same as adults except she had to hurdle over bales of hay while carrying a pretty heavy "tombstone". Even though Hannah came in last in her heat (Hey, the other kids had experience and tennis shoes and Hannah was wearing her cowboy boots.) She wanted to know where her award was! Then at the rodeo they told any kids under ten who wanted to participate to come down in the arena to be in a calf scramble. She didn't even ask what a "calf scramble" was. She jumped to her feet and asked if she could go down. Mind you, she had been watching bronc and bareback riding and all kinds of wild stuff. No matter, she wanted to be a part of it. For you city slickers, the calf scramble is where they let five calves loose in the arena with ribbons tied to their tails. Pull a ribbon off a calf and you win $10.00. Bless her heart, her hat wanted to fall off as she ran so she just ran around chasing the calves as best she could while hanging on to her hat. You know a rodeo arena is just loose dirt so you gotta know it was exhausting. She ran and ran and when she came back, she seems pretty satisfied she got to be in the rodeo!! What a trooper!! Hudson, on the other hand, is like his grandpa! He's not going to do anything before making sure he can win!



I entered Joshua in the 2-3 yr old stick horse race. Unfortunately, his "heat" was the very first one. He pretty much had no idea what to do. I wished he could have watched it for awhile first. He probably would have spurred that horse to a win!
He really enjoyed watching the rodeo. He sat on my lap for two and a half hours and took it all in.

Old Cow poke and little pony!

A visit to Grandpa and Grandma's

We have three of our four precious grand babies here for several days. They are with their Papa and Grandma Doris today, however. We picked them up in Elk City at noon yesterday. They have been just perfect. By the time we got them to Clovis however, Hannah asked, "Are we taking the long cut?" Bless their hearts, they went back to Amarillo today and will be back tonight! This is the first time Joshua has been away from his Mama and Daddy overnight and he hasn't skipped a beat. Last night we introduced them to Grandpa and Grandma's new toy. They were so excited. Phil said he didn't think he had ever seen Huddy as ecstatic about anything! What fun we are anticipating having with them on it.

This morning, before they left, the HAD to help Grandpa feed the chickens and collect the eggs. We have a new batch of baby chicks, too. Joshua loves the big dogs and is understandably leery of the chickens. One of the first things he did was figure out how to make the clothes line braces into a jungle gym! Silly monkey!